Tom Krieglstein

Understanding Fairness in a Partnership

Fairness is a word that comes up often in conversations between me and Kevin about our partnership in Swift Kick. Through the many business books and classes I've taken, only one book has ever talked about the topic of fairness, even though I believe fairness can be used as the #1 determinate of the success, or failure, of a partnership...and thus a business.

Sometimes fairness can be linked to quantifiable measures, such as two people committing to work x number of hours per week. If one person works the established number of hours but the other person slacks, then an imbalance exists and the situation is clearly unfair. Fairness, attached to data, through pre-established measurements, is easier to discuss because both parties can easily point to the measurements. Using a third point of reference, in this case, the measurements, is a tool to deflect emotions out of the conversation.

Sometimes fairness can be linked to quantifiable measures, but the type of fairness I'm talking about is when it's not quantifiable or lacks pre-established measurements. The fairness I'm talking about is when something FEELS unfair because either it can't be quantified or measurements weren't set up ahead of time. Until I learn a better term, I'll call it non-quantified fairness.

How a partnership handles non-quantified fairness is a real test of the strength of the partnership. Ideally, it's best to do as much prep work ahead of time to avoid non-quantified fairness conversations, but I promise no matter how much pre work is done, something will come up.

Here are some signs you're about to enter into a non-quantified fairness conversation:

• A third point is missing (data, measurements, outside expert opinion, etc)
• Both sides go in thinking they are doing the right thing
• Feeling statements are used (I feel...)
• Defensive statements are used (You don't understand...)
  
• Decisions aren't clear and take longer to reach
  

Here are some tactics to minimize the damage and maximize the value of a non-quantified fairness conversation:

• Find a third point to reference
• Pause for 3 seconds and breath deep
• Put yourself in the other person's shoes to understand their points
• Restate their points out loud in the conversation (So you are saying...)
• Take notes
  
• Agree to pause the conversation if it drags on. A break can do wonders.
• Bring in a third party mediator if it's really bad
  

Lastly, here's how to limit the possibility of non-quantified fairness conversations from ever happening:

• Do "What if..." statements for the partnership and business
  
• Define goals together and ahead of time
• Host regular "How are you doing?" check ins
• Read and complete The Partnership Charter
  

Like I said above, fairness can be used as the #1 determinate of the success, or failure, of a partnership...and thus a business. It's worth the time to do it right.

When's the last time you had a non-quantified fairness conversation? What more would you add to the lists above?

Understanding Leap Moments in Life Through Sudoku

I've always enjoyed puzzles and challenges. To keep me busy as a child, my mom would drop hundreds of pennies on the floor and challenge me to arrange them in various ways as fast as I could. I would spend hours by myself categorizing the pennies. (This is why Annie and I jokingly hope our kids end up like me, so they can babysit themselves).

As an adult, I still enjoy puzzles and challenges, with Sudoku being one of my favorites. In my few years of playing Sudoku puzzles, I've advanced to the harder levels by learning a combination of trick moves and the ability to foresee several steps ahead. Even though I may think I'm good, there are still many people that are ten times better than me and whiz through puzzles that make my head hurt.

Anytime I attempt a new higher level puzzle of Sudoku, I've noticed a pattern emerge in my playing. I start the puzzle by completing a series of obviously logical steps. The logical steps allow me to fill up about a third of the board. Then I get stuck. As far as I can tell, there are no more logical steps. No matter what I try, I'm still stuck. Then my head starts to hurt. I know I'm missing something, but my current set of skills in the game are not allowing me to see it. The only way for me to move on to complete the board is to not take a logical step, but to take a guessing (to the best of my ability) leap. From this point I either guessed right and complete the board with ease, or I guessed wrong and the board gets messy. I'm fine with the possibility of either outcome, because each game prepares me for the next game. What amazes me is how I'm getting better at recognizing, ahead of time, the Leap Moments in each game.

Leap Moments are needed when my set of skills, from previous experiences, have maxed out every logical step, and the only way to go on is to take a leap forward to the best of my ability. In my personal and professional life, Leap Moments come up every so often and, like in Sudoku, some of my leaps have worked for the better, and others left the board a mess. Here's a list of my Leap Moments:

• Moving to Berlin in college (for the better)
• Moving out of my parents house after college (for the better)
• Investing all my money in my first speaking business (for the better & messy)
• Trying out for Supercamp (for the better)
• Starting Swift Kick (for the better)
• Going full time with Swift Kick as my sole revenue source (for the better & messy)
• Committing to building Red Rover (in progess)
• Proposing to Annie (for the better)
• Splitting Red Rover and Swift Kick (messy)
• Marrying Annie (for the better)
• Expanding the SK team for growth (in progress)
• Moving to NYC (coming soon)
• BABIES! (coming soon)

The Entrepreneur, The Manager, The Worker

In any organization there are three general roles (the entrepreneur, the manager, and the worker). The entrepreneur creates the vision. The manager takes that vision and turns it into an action plan. The worker completes the action plan. Each role is critical and each role takes time.

At larger organizations, it's easier to define which bucket your responsibilities fall into. Start ups, however, don't have the luxury to separate responsibilities, and often founders have to bounce between all three buckets within the same day. But how much of your time is allocated to each bucket, is a key factor to determining projections for the company.

If the business goal is to sustain, then the majority of your time should be spent in the manager and worker buckets.

If the business goal is to grow, then the majority of your time should be spent in the entrepreneur bucket, while delegating out the manager/worker stuff.

Looking back over last year, I'd say this is how my time was divided:

The results at the end of the year matched my actions. We paid down all our debt into Swift Kick, we paid out a regular salary for the first time in 5 years, but a vision for the training side of Swift Kick going into 2010, was missing. I didn't put enough time into the entrepreneur bucket to create the vision for what was next. I was laying down the cobblestones verses mapping out where the cobblestone road was heading. With 70% of my time allocated to being a manager and worker, I was only concerned with the "right now."

Now I'm consciously thinking about how I use my time. Moving into 2010, I'm going to make my time allocation be more like this:

Like I said before, visuals help. Now I get to check-in with myself and see if I'm really spending 60% of my day doing entrepreneurial work and only 20% doing worker work.

It seems simple enough, but shifting from a worker/manager mindset to an entrepreneur mindset is tough. In thinking about why I feel disproportional satisfied with doing just the worker side of stuff, I think back to my childhood.

Having grown up on a fully functional farm, in a village with a population of 1000, and per capita income of $13K, worker stuff was all I knew. A lot of value was placed on physical labor, because that was really the only kind of work. My time in equaled my value out. An entrepreneur mindset leverages time on an exponential level by delegating/automating out the manager/worker stuff.

On your next full day of work, consciously think about how much time you're allocating to each bucket. What can you delegate/automate to allow you to contentrate on the entrepreneurial work?

How Do You Walk Up Stairs?

Have you ever thought about your strategy for walking up stairs? Are you a one step at a time kind of person, two stepper, or three stepper? Some people have legs that will only allow one step at a time. Other people, like me, have legs that could reach up to three steps at a time.

My current commute to work involves several sets of stairs, so I've been watching my pattern of stair walking in comparison to others. Here's what I've noticed:

• The number of steps I take is directly related to my attitude. One step = feeling sluggish. Two steps = kickin ass, taking names. Three steps = nervously stretching my limits.
• I can quickly change my attitude by changing the number of steps I take.
• Most people are one step people.
• Certain one step people rush up the stairs by moving their feet really fast. It looks, and sounds, like they are doing a lot of work, but not progressing nearly as fast as most two steppers.
• Two steps at a time puts me in a calm Zen power state.
• Hardly anyone does three steps.
• I've ripped pants, tripped, and fallen over trying three steps at a time.
  

While longer legs is clearly an advantage in the stair race, stretch the analogy to other areas of life, like work. In work, are you a one stepper who's moving really fast and looks busy, but really didn't progress much? Or are you a two stepper who works in a state of Zen and doesn't seem stressed or busy, but your progress is amazing? It's efficiency vs effectiveness. Which one are you?

A couple years ago, Kevin and I were walking up some stairs and he was doing the three stair approach and I asked why. His response, "One day I just said I was going to be a three stair kind of person."

How To Be One In A Million in 2010